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Bowing to industry pressure, the Labor Department on Monday extended the non-enforcement policy on its fiduciary rule to Jan. 31.
Also, Labor "further extended the requirement for providing the 'specific reasons' that justify a rollover recommendation" until June 30, explained Fred Reish, partner at Faegre Drinker's Los Angeles office, in a Monday email to reporters at BenefitsPRO's sister publication, ThinkAdvisor.
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Labor said in announcing the extension in a field assistance bulletin that it understands that the Dec. 20, 2021, expiration date of the temporary enforcement policy "poses practical difficulties for financial institutions that are in the process of complying with the exemption conditions. Specifically, financial institutions have expressed concern that they would incur significant additional distribution costs, because the Dec. 20, 2021, expiration date does not align with their regular distribution cycle for disclosures."
Industry trade groups have been urging the Labor Department to extend the Dec. 20 compliance date for its fiduciary advice rule. The Biden administration allowed the Trump administration's fiduciary prohibited advice exemption, or PTE, to go into effect in mid-February.
The regulation, called "Improving Investment Advice for Worker & Retirees," is "broadly aligned" with the SEC's Regulation Best Interest, according to EBSA.
However, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh said in mid-June that Labor plans to issue a new proposed rulemaking to update the definition of "fiduciary" under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. That proposal could come by December.
Lisa Gomez, President Joe Biden's pick to head the Labor Department's Employee Benefits Security Administration, told senators on Oct. 7 that "there's nothing that is more central to ERISA than defining who is a fiduciary."
In comments during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Gomez — who will be central in helping Labor craft a new fiduciary rule — said that if confirmed, she looks forward to working with the Securities and Exchange Commission as well as with Labor "to be briefed on the efforts of looking at the definition of a fiduciary in different contexts, and taking another look at the conflict of interest rule and how it would apply in different situations."
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Melanie Waddell
Melanie is senior editor and Washington bureau chief of ThinkAdvisor. Her ThinkAdvisor coverage zeros in on how politics, policy, legislation and regulations affect the investment advisory space. Melanie’s coverage has been cited in various lawmakers’ reports, letters and bills, and in the Labor Department’s fiduciary rule in 2024. In 2019, Melanie received an Honorable Mention, Range of Work by a Single Author award from @Folio. Melanie joined Investment Advisor magazine as New York bureau chief in 2000. She has been a columnist since 2002. She started her career in Washington in 1994, covering financial issues at American Banker. Since 1997, Melanie has been covering investment-related issues, holding senior editorial positions at American Banker publications in both Washington and New York. Briefly, she was content chief for Internet Capital Group’s EFinancialWorld in New York and wrote freelance articles for Institutional Investor. Melanie holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Towson University. She interned at The Baltimore Sun and its suburban edition.
